Book Printing Outlook -- El-Hi, Hogwarts Shine

As for what 2006 holds, Clarke envisions a price-competitive market. The winners will be those who not only provide quick, but also cost-effective, turnarounds.

"We're reinvesting so we can provide a good manufacturing solution for our publishers, both for long-run, heavy page count products and for quick makeready, small-run books," he says. "We've introduced a variety of specific supply chain solutions for our publishers that are now being widely adopted to support both ends of the market. If you can't supply that, you're going to be in trouble."